Battery housing

ABSTRACT

A battery housing (4) for a radio pager (1) comprises a slidable cover (5) movable between a first position, where it closes off an opening (3) for insertion and removal of a battery, and a second position where it leaves the opening accessible. The cover (5) is only allowed to move from its closed position when a slidable locking member (8) is moved to its unlocked position. Movement of the cover (5) from its closed position to its open position automatically causes the locking member (8) to be moved back to its locked position so that when the cover (5) is closed again it is automatically locked in the closed position.

This invention relates generally to battery housings for battery-poweredelectrical products, and more particularly for electrical products whichrequire changes of battery relatively frequently such as various typesof portable consumer electrical products. Such portable electricalproducts may include for example portable radio receivers such as thosecommonly known as pagers.

Battery-powered electrical products generally include a housing intowhich the battery is inserted, the housing having therein electricalcontacts for contacting the battery and coupling it to electricalcircuits within the product. Such battery housings have an openingthrough which the battery is inserted into the housing and a cover forcovering the opening so that the battery is not accidentally dislodgedand lost from the housing. It will be appreciated that althoughreference is being mad to a single battery, the same is true of productsthat require more than one battery and references to a battery hereinare to be taken as including several batteries.

In commonly available portable, consumer products, the housing cover isfrequently simply latched in place so that to open it, it is necessaryto lever the cover up until it unlatches, at which time it separatesfrom the housing and may easily be lost. Alternately, covers are knownwhich are hinged to the housing by means of an integral plastic hinge.This avoids the possibility of losing the cover but such hinges are veryweak and easily broken. It is therefore an object of the presentinvention to provide a battery housing having an improved cover which isless likely to be lost or broken when being opened for the purpose ofchanging a battery. It is a further object of the invention to provide abattery housing having a lockable cover which reduces the possibility ofaccidental opening and consequent loss of the battery.

Accordingly, the present invention provides a battery housing for abattery-powered electrical product having an opening for inserting andremoving the battery into and from the housing, wherein the housingcomprises a cover slidably movable between a first position where itcloses off the opening and a second position where it leaves the openingaccessible, and locking means slidably movable transversely to the covermovement between a first position where it locks the cover in its firstposition and a second position where it allows the cover to move to itssecond position.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention there is further providedmeans associated with the cover and the locking means for moving thelocking means from its second position to its first position when thecover is moved between its first and second positions.

A battery housing for a radio pager will now be more fully described byway of example with reference to the drawings of which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective bottom view of a radio pager incorporating theinvention;

FIG. 2 is an exploded view of the bottom portion of the pager of FIG. 1;and

FIG. 3 shows the under surface of the battery housing cover shown inFIG. 2.

Thus, there is shown in FIG. 1 a radio pager 1 of the type which can beclipped, for example, to a person's shirt pocket via a clip 2. Thedrawing shows the bottom surface of the pager 1 having an opening 3 forinsertion of a battery (not shown) into the pager to provide electricalpower. As is well known in the art, the pager will include variouscontrols and devices to alert the user of the pager that a message iswaiting. Such controls and devices are not shown in the Figure.

According to the invention the pager 1 includes a housing 4 for thebattery, the housing including a cover 5 for closing off the opening 3when access to the battery housing is not required. The cover 5 iscaptured within the housing and is constrained to slide in thedirections shown by arrow 6 between a first (closed) position where itcloses off the opening 3 and a second (open) position where it leavesthe opening 3 accessible for insertion and removal of the battery (thedrawing shows the cover midway between its first and second positions).The cover includes a corrugated thumb zone 7 to reduce slippage betweena thumb or finger when it is desired to slide the cover 5. Cover 5, whenmoved to its open position, slides over a locking member 8 which isitself slidable in a direction shown by arrow 9 which is transverse tothe direction of movement of cover 5 as shown by arrow 6. As will beexplained below, this locking member 8 is slidable between a first(locked) position, where it prevents the cover 5 from being opened, anda second (unlocked) position, where it allows the cover 5 to be opened.The drawing shows the locking member 8 in its locked position. Thelocking member also has a corrugated thumb zone 9 to allow it to bemoved more easily by a thumb or finger of the user.

The housing 4, the cover 5 and the locking member 8 are more clearlyshown in FIG. 2. As clearly shown in this figure, the housing 4 has arim 10 and rails 11 jointly forming grooves 12 in the two sides of thehousing. The cover 5 is provided with tongues 13 in its side which fitinto the groove 12 and thereby constrain the cover 5 to slide only alongthe grooves. In this way the cover is fully captured at all times by thehousing and is only allowed to move between one end of the housing,where the opening 3 is situated, and a second end of the housing whichincludes the locking member 8. This locking member 8 is constrained toslide within the housing, transversely to the movement of the cover 5,by means of right-angled tongues 14, provided on the lower face of themember 8, which travel within slots 15 formed in a flat member 16provided in the housing 4. The locking member 8 is also provided with aprojection 17 on a side edge thereof. This projection 17 travels overramps 18, 19 formed at the side of the member 16 as the locking member 8is slid between its locked and unlocked positions. The naturalresilience of the locking member 8 allows the projection 17 to travel upthe ramps 18, 19, both of which have upper portions at the center of themember 16 and are continuous so as to form an inverted V-shaped cam.Thus, the projection moving over this cam causes the locking member tobe biased to either its locked or unlocked positions and the lockingmember is therefore bistable between these two positions.

The locking member 8 is further provided with two spigots 20, 21upstanding from its upper surface at an edge thereof opposite to theprojection 17. When the cover 5 is closed and the locking member 8 is inits locked position, these spigots 20, 21 abut against the edge of thecover 5 preventing it from being moved. However, when the locking member8 is moved to its unlocked position, these spigots 20, 21 are thenadjacent channels 22, 23 formed in the lower face of the cover 5. Thesechannels are more clearly shown in FIG. 3 which shows the lower face ofthe cover 5. Each of the channels 22, 23 is formed with first and secondportions parallel to the direction of motion of the cover 5 butlaterally displaced from each other, and a third diagonal portionjoining the first and second portions. The third portion of each channelthus provide a respective cam surface 24, 25 which will bias therespective spigot 20, 21 from the first portion of the channel to thesecond portion of the channel as the cover is moved.

As described above, when the locking member is in its unlocked position,the spigots 20, 21 are adjacent the open ends of the respective channels22, 23 thereby allowing the cover to be moved from its closed position.Such movement of the cover causes it to move over the locking member andthe spigots are then constrained within their respective channels. Asthe cover is first moved from its closed position, the spigots enter thefirst portions of their respective channels. Further movement of thecover to its open position causes the spigots to bear against the camsurfaces 24, 25 and still further movement of the cover forces thespigots to follow the diagonal portion of the channel thereby forcingthe locking member 8 to move to its locked position. The locking member8, being bistable, is biased to its locked position and remains there asthe cover is moved fully to its open position.

When the cover is then moved back from its open position towards itsclosed position, the spigots 20, 21 remain within the channels 22, 23respectively throughout the straight, second portion of the channels.However the channels do not include a cam surface in this direction ofmotion to force the locking member to move to its unlocked position.Instead the locking member remains in the locked position as the coveris moved towards its closed position. The cover is finally locked in itsclosed position by virtue of a ramp 26 provided in each of the channelsin line with the second portion of the channel. As the cover is moved toits closed position, the ramp moves over the respective spigot allowingthe natural resilience of the cover to bias it up and over the spigot.When the spigot reaches the end of the ramp, the cover drops back behindthe spigots which thereby abut the edge of the cover forming the end ofthe ramps and thus lock the cover in its closed position.

There has thus been described a battery housing having a lockable, fullycaptive cover which is less likely to be accidentally opened or lostthan previously known covers.

I claim:
 1. A battery housing for a battery-powered electrical producthaving an opening for inserting and removing the battery into and fromthe housing, wherein the housing comprises a cover slidably movablebetween a first position where it closes off the opening and a secondposition where it leaves the opening accessible, and locking meansslidably movable transversely to the cover movement between a firstposition where it locks the cover in its first position and a secondposition where it allows the cover to move to its second position.
 2. Abattery housing according to claim 1 wherein said locking meanscomprises a member having at least one spigot thereon which abuts anedge of the cover when the member and cover are in their respectivefirst positions thereby preventing the cover from moving to its secondposition.
 3. A battery housing according to claim 1 further comprisingmeans associated with the cover and the locking means for moving thelocking means from its second position to its first position when thecover is moved between its first and second positions.
 4. A batteryhousing according to claim 3 wherein said means associated with thecover and the locking means comprises at least one channel provided in asurface of the cover and at least one spigot attached to the lockingmeans and cooperating with the channel, whereby movement of the channelcauses the spigot to follow cam surfaces defined by the channel suchthat the locking means is moved from its second position to its firstposition.
 5. A battery housing according to claim 1 wherein said lockingmeans is bistable between its first and second positions.
 6. A batteryhousing according to claim 1 wherein said cover is wholly captive withinsaid housing between its first and second positions.
 7. A batteryhousing according to claim 4 wherein said channel further defines a rampsurface over which the spigot travels as the cover is moved to its firstposition, the end of the ramp providing an edge of the cover againstwhich the spigot abuts to lock the cover in its first position.
 8. Abattery housing according to claim 1 for a radio pager.